Councillors say they're 'out of loop'

By
Anne Tarasov

LIVERPOOL'S Labor councillors say a recent vote will mean they will continue to be left out of the loop of what happens at the council.

LIVERPOOL'S Labor councillors say a recent vote will mean they will continue to be left out of the loop of what happens at the council.

Councillor Anne Stanley moved a motion at last week's council meeting calling for a "review of current procedures and policies to ensure that information is shared equally with all councillors at all times".

The motion also asked that invitations addressed to the mayor and councillors be provided to all councillors within three business days of receipt and the media releases sent to journalists also be distributed to councillors.

Cr Stanley said she was disappointed that the motion was defeated with the Liberal majority of councillors voting against it.

"It feels like the four Labor councillors are not informed about things happening at council; I often arrive at meetings to discover information I should have been told before," Cr Stanley said.

She said she learnt of former chief executive Farooq Portelli's plan to step down from the post only the afternoon before it was announced at a council meeting.

"I'm not sure why these communication problems are happening but it's very frustrating. Not all the councillors can go to all briefing sessions; they are held during the day and many of us have full-time jobs and other commitments."

Liberal councillor Tony Hadchiti said there was no reason that all councillors should not be across what was happening.

"Everyone is invited to all meetings and we are emailed and informed about everything," Cr Hadchiti said.

"We have pigeonholes and were given iPads. There is no reason that councillors should not be informed.

"Some councillors choose not to attend some of the meetings.

"We've just gone through the process of drafting the budget and only one Labor councillor attended all of those meetings.

"Not everyone can go to every meeting. Some Liberal councillors didn't attend some of the meetings either, but there are always repeat offenders.

"Some of the councillors don't go to any committee meetings and miss briefing sessions and then complain about not knowing what's going on."

Councillor Peter Harle, of the Liverpool Community Independents Team, said he supported Cr Stanley's motion but it was a futile move because the Liberals voted as a bloc.

"I agree with Cr Stanley, more could definitely be done to fine-tune communication with councillors," Cr Harle said.

"But the Liberals almost always oppose her motions.

"It's important that we're all on the same page and kept informed about everything because we're all representing parts of the electorate."